Live Play Data

Ashnod's Altar

· Artifact · Commander Masters (CMM)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

2081

Decks Running

1061

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

66%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

5% of tracked Commander decks run Ashnod's Altar. When drawn, 66% of copies reach the battlefield, with a median first cast on turn 6.

Ashnod's Altar sits in 5% of the 19725 Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live, appearing across 1061 distinct lists. For a colorless sacrifice outlet that costs 3 mana, that breadth is a clear signal of how many strategies depend on a free, repeatable way to convert creatures into mana.

The cast profile reflects the card's role: median first cast lands on turn 6, later than pure ramp pieces, because players tend to hold it until the engine is ready to fire. Of drawn copies, 66% are cast before the game ends. Players who do resolve it see a win rate of 32%, compared to 26% for participations where it stayed buried in the library. That +6.3 percentage-point lift is a consistent early signal across a well-sampled pool of 288 cast observations and 1374 library observations.

The commander distribution spans token-generators, death-trigger payoffs, and combo shells, reflecting the Altar's status as a format-agnostic enabler rather than a card tied to one archetype. Data is well-spread: 835 distinct players have brought it to tracked games, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for just 1% of all instances.

At a glance

5% of tracked Commander decks include Ashnod's Altar
T6 median first-cast turn, reflecting deliberate timing rather than early ramp
66% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
32% win rate in games where Ashnod's Altar resolved
77% battlefield stickiness once cast
835 distinct players have brought it to a tracked game, a well-spread sample

First-cast turn

n=307

12%

15%

14%

42%

T6-9

11%

T10+

Median 6 P25 4 · P75 8 · max 16

On curve 18% (38 / 307 cast on T3) Cast same turn as drawn 32%

The "good card" funnel

2082 brought · 835 players

Brought to game

2082

Ever drawn

462

Reached battlefield

307

Still on board at game end

237

66%

Of 2082 Altars brought to tracked games, 462 were drawn, 307 of those were cast, and 77% of cast copies remained on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ +1.0pp

Players who cast this card win 32% of the time (n=288) , vs 26% when it never left the library (n=1374).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 28% (n=135) — about the same as leaving it in the library. Those players survived long enough to draw it, so the gap above is about the card resolving, not just about surviving.

Observed gap +6.3pp; 95% confidence interval +1.0pp to +11.6pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

528 instances

2.5%

Library

44.9%

Battlefield

22.0%

Graveyard

5.7%

Exile

Most Ashnod's Altars in a 100-card singleton deck never leave the library in any given game. Of those that do reach play, a notable share end the game on the battlefield, reflecting the card's durability once resolved.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel 45 decks
2 Atla Palani, Nest Tender 35 decks
3 Teysa Karlov 32 decks
4 Krenko, Mob Boss 31 decks
5 Marneus Calgar 24 decks
6 Chatterfang, Squirrel General 23 decks
7 Ashling, the Limitless 21 decks
8 Ygra, Eater of All 20 decks
9 Breya, Etherium Shaper 15 decks
10 Meren of Clan Nel Toth 15 decks

The commander list spans sacrifice-payoff, token-flood, and death-trigger strategies across many color combinations, showing the Altar is an archetype-agnostic engine rather than a card tied to one specific commander.

Card text

Ashnod's Altar

Artifact

Sacrifice a creature: Add {C}

Commander Masters (CMM) · Uncommon · Illustrated by Greg Staples

Frequently Asked

How often is Ashnod's Altar drawn in a Commander game?

Across 1945 tracked games where the card was in a deck, it was drawn 22% of the time. That is typical for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 462 copies that reached a hand, 66% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Ashnod's Altar usually hit the battlefield?

Median first cast is turn 6, with the middle 50% of casts landing between turns 4 and 8. The distribution is broad: a small cluster appears in the early turns when the card is in the opening hand, but the majority land in the mid-game once a creature base is in place to feed the sacrifice outlet.

Does casting Ashnod's Altar actually improve your win rate?

In 288 participations where the Altar resolved, the win rate was 32%. In 1374 participations where it stayed in the library, the win rate was 26%. The +6.3 percentage-point gap is a directional positive signal. Both buckets are well-sampled, making this one of the more reliable lift readings in our dataset.

Is Ashnod's Altar legal in Commander?

Yes. Ashnod's Altar is legal and unrestricted in Commander, as well as in Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and several other formats. It is not legal in Modern, Pioneer, or Standard. It has never been banned in Commander despite its long history as a combo enabler.

Which commanders most commonly run Ashnod's Altar?

The top commanders in our tracked data are Sephiroth, Atla Palani, Teysa Karlov, Krenko, and Marneus Calgar. The list spans black death-trigger decks, token-generator strategies, and artifact-combo shells, which illustrates how broadly applicable a colorless sacrifice outlet at 3 mana can be.

How concentrated is the Ashnod's Altar data among a few players?

The dataset is well-spread. 835 distinct players have brought the card to a tracked game, and the single most active contributor accounts for just 1% of all instances. That low concentration strengthens confidence in the behavioral patterns we observe in the data.